Latest Gear Live Videos

The folks behind the Isis Wallet recently announced that the company would rebrand and change its name due to the rise of the ISIS Middle Eastern terrorist group in the public eye. A great decision to be sure, the company announced today that the Isis Wallet will shortly be known as Softcard. An app update will be pushed to the various app stores where Isis Wallet is available within a few weeks, and Softcard will take its place. No word on any new features at this time, as the company is looking to swiftly get the name change in place to distance itself from the militant group of a similar moniker.

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Take a gander behind the curtain of how Facebook designers created the Facebook Home launcher for Android. The forty-five minute video essay shows the evolutionary process of cover feed, chat heads, and the premise of mimicking the real world experience with a software operating system not based on apps, but focused rather on people.

On May 8th, the designers behind Facebook Home (Justin Stahl, Francis Luu, Joey Flynn and Mac Tyler) presented a behind-the-scenes look at their work at the Bluxome Street Winery for a small crowd. In this four-part talk, they discuss how they combined their high-level goals with an iterative process and interactive design tools such as Quartz Composer to bring the first version of Home to launch.

If you own an Android phone, you can now get in on the Vine action that iPhone users have had access to for over four months now. The app is Twitter's answer to video sharing, allowing users to share six-second video snippets with each other. Interestingly, the iOS version and Android versions each have features that the other doesn't. For example, the iOS version includes support for the front-facing camera, mentions, hashtags, and search. The Android version doesn't--but it does have a zoom feature, something that's not found in iOS.

Vine for Android works with any device running Android 4.0 or higher, and you can download it now from the Google Play Store.

The Nike+ FuelBand is one of the most popular fitness gadgets out there (although the verdict is still out on if fitness gadgets actually improve our health,) but there's been a complaint from Android users since it's release regarding the lack of an app for Android-powered smartphones. Despite waiting patiently for about a year, it turns out, a FuelBand app isn't even on the radar for Nike.

@mkoyerp Right now, we're focused on iOS and web. We're not working on an Android App.

To deliver the best experience for all Nike+ FuelBand users, we are focusing on the FuelBand experience across iOS and nikeplus.com, where you can sync your activity, set new goals, and connect with friends. At this time, we are not working on an Android version of the mobile app.

In other words, the company is committed to having the FuelBand work perfectly within the iOS ecosystem, and doesn't have time right now to worry about the fragmented Android mess. Of course, the FuelBand doesn't require a smartphone at all, so Android users (and anyone else) can use it, they just need to sync over USB to their computer rather than over Bluetooth like you can do with an iPhone.

Bitcasa brings its unlimited cloud storage from the desktop to the mobile-verse today, with Android and Windows Phone 8 users getting first dibs. An iOS and Mac version are promised in early January, however, so you won't feel left out in the cold for too long.

The apps for Android and Windows 8 stream media through its native player with two-way file access so you can access your files from your Surface. Android users can also link their camera app to Bitcasa, so each photo they take is automatically saved to the cloud.

The new version of Google Play Books for Android has a new feature that reads books to users on its own. The feature is titled, obviously, "read aloud," and works with most books without the need for the book to come with a "read aloud" enabled feature.

You'll also find a new pinch-to-zoom feature, as well as double-tap-to-zoom. Further, the app now makes recommendations on other books you might find enjoyable after you finish reading one book. Though, if you're like me, you prefer to soak in the totality of a one book world before even thinking about diving into another.

For techies, the Black Friday deals are just beginning. Google and other app creators are looking to extend the Black Friday madness into the Thanksgiving weekend, with deals on a wide range of apps and media.

Android apps are especially discounted, with apps like SwiftKey 3, Shadowgun, and Documents To Go among the cheapest, but there's no shortage of deals in categories across the board. You'll also find some nice deals on books, movies and music, from Diana Krall to Kendrick Lamar. Head on over to Google Play to check out all the deals on the apps you wish you had.

In our opinion, the one big factor that limited the appeal of Google Wallet was the fact that it has only been compatible with CitiBank MasterCard. Not exactly something that the masses have in their wallets. Today, that changes, as Google has announced that Wallet is now compatible with all Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover debit and credit cards. That's progress!

Also added is a remote wipe feature that allows users to disable Google Wallet remotely, blocking usage of the app with that device and clearing off card and transaction data as well.

You can now use Google Wallet to pay at over 200,000 locations across the US. You can download the new update today from Google Play.

Today marks the released of what may, quite possibly, be the most anticipated iOS-only app to hit Android, as Instagram has finally arrived on the Google side of the fence.

Instagram is the massively popular photo-sharing social network that's garnered over 25 million users, and up until this point, it's only been available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. That changes today. Instagram for Android works on any Android device running version 2.2 or higher, as long as they support OpenGL ES 2. Similar to the iOS version, you can share your Instagram posts to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Foursquare. Soon, Flickr will be an option as well.

Facebook has just released a new Android and iOS app called Facebook Messenger, and it's exactly what it sounds like. Basically, Facebook has taken its messaging system, used their Beluga team to simplify it a bit, and pushed it out as an independent app. You can message your contacts without using up SMS (similar to things like BBM, Google+ Huddle, iMessage, GroupMe, Fast Society, and plenty of others,) and you can also create group messages on the fly as well. People will see these messages show up in the Messenger app, their Facebook inbox, or by SMS if they don't have the app installed. You can also share your GPS location and attach images to the message conversations as well. If you've used Beluga or Facebook, then you know how to use this.